#bone babble

I'm breaking character to speak very seriously. If you're in Florida, do NOT ignore evacuation orders. If you have Floridian friends or family, tell THEM to get out too.

I'm begging you personally.

Back during Hurricane Sandy, which made landfall on the East Coast as a mere cyclone, my stupid ass did not evacuate. I watched it roll in, trapped on the upper floor by rising floodwaters. Vehicles became wrecking balls in the current. Pieces of houses were ripped clean off. The glass on the windows bent-- if the wind was any stronger, they might have shattered.

The storm outside painted the world pitch black. It was like nothing existed outside those bulging windows except rain and chaos. I could only hear the roar of the wind, interlaced by an irregular din of crunching, scraping, and crackling.

It was only when the surge subsided that I learned that those noises were the sounds of yachts and house boats that had been lifted out of the harbor. Unmanned on the current, they crashed into telephone poles, dug trenches in the roads, and ripped through the walls of houses as if they were cardboard. That could have been me.

It was one of the most terrifying ordeals of my life. I survived because I was lucky.

If you've been ordered to evacuate, get out NOW. If you're not scared of "a little rain," you will be terrified by the time it's too late. It will be because you're trapped by an inky black ocean of rising water, surrounded by broken glass and shrieking wind, your little island growing smaller and smaller until you're swallowed whole.

And, for the love of all that is good, IF you're trapped in that situation, DO NOT GO OUTSIDE. Stay where you are safe until you physically cannot. Treat the water with the same caution as if it is alive and wants to kill you.

Leaked pages from the Amazon preview of the Elder's Quest E-book, which you can access if you have an Amazon account;

She starts thinking about how old and lonely she is before being attacked by psychic MP4s of Crowfeather dancing the macarena. The gas leak has spread to ShadowClan, I'm afraid

I think the prefix/suffix names are honestly the most addictive thing about WC, and the thing that makes it hard to leave. I'm not kidding. I don't think WC would be the powerhouse it is today if it wasn't for the two part names.

It's simple and easy. Your brain can idly chew on it even if you don't have broader ideas about a character or setting-- just play Mad Libs with the words until you end up somewhere cool.

I think it would be necessary to keep that spirit... and no, they can't own the idea of two-part names. SPECIFIC words like Star, Paw, and Kit would probably need to go, though.

So generally, yeah, renamed BB characters would have new two-part names. I've also considered two additions to the naming system;

1: Wider range of acceptable names, especially of tools and verbs

So instead of names needing to be purely natural, acceptable prefixes would include tools like Blade, Twine, and Spoon, or adjectives like Carver, Hunter, Tracker.

These would also usually be assigned as Honor Titles, quickly denoting which individuals in a Clan likely have more experience. Swirlspoon is the sort of name you see on a chef, but Sweetleaf is probably young or unaccomplished.

It's also worth noting since I'd be starting with Clanmew and then working back to English that color suffixes would become a lot more common. Sunblack, Skyblue, Leafgray.

Some interesting translation quirks would also lead to names like Happyhalf, Wolfalone, Punkbuck, etc.

2: Instead of "paw," an apprentice's first rank would come from their family, or something related to their Clan theme.

For example, when Whitekit is coming of age, it means a lot to him that he would take the suffix of his mother's family; pup. Instead of Whitepaw, his apprentice name is Whitepup. Thistleclaw might be extremely offended by this, and try to force him to go through apprenticeship by Whiteseed instead.

Orphans and cats from outside the Clan take a diminutive name from the Clan's theme-- so Firepaw would be Firespark in ThunderClan, Firepuff in WindClan, Fireflea in ShadowClan, etc.

I would loose a tidbit I'm really proud of, though. The fact that "Paw" ties back to King Arc and how the apprenticeship system came from the River Kingdom. So I'm reluctant to commit to it... will probably keep thinking about it.

3: "The Promised Name"

This is actually one I've wanted to have in BB for a while. When a kitten is first born, before anyone truly knows if they'll fade or not, its caretakers make "promises" to it to try and convince it to stay.

These "promises" aren't names, you see... but they could be. They could be impressive names a reincarnation would be eager to have. They might be stories of good times they'll all have together. It might even just be a desperate plea for a stillborn kitten to perform a miracle, out of pure desire to be a parent.

If it works, sometimes the promised name becomes their prefix. But not always! Most warriors keep their Promised Name as a very intimate secret they only share with people they love and trust. It's considered very VERY personal. In fact, living your entire life with your Promised Name as your prefix can be seen as very "babyish." The sort of thing that mean kids will pick on you about.

Examples of Promised Names can be; Happy. Adventure. Love. Cuddles. Milk. Soup. Grand. King. Star. Glory. Strength. Purr. Please. Wish. They're very simple, often chanted in quiet whispers.

(Note: I kinda want Breezepelt's prefix to be his promised name. This probably slips in a conversation with Lionblaze, who laughs at him about it. And then they fight.)

im. Considering.

With the state of... *gestures at the world* everything right now I've honestly been struggling with the feeling of wanting to say more than what BB in its current form allows me to say.

I started this project with a lot of love for the WC series. A love that came with patience. Affectionate patience for the sort of well-meaning but naiive neoliberalism that I know the original Erins had. Maybe I was wrong about it all along-- but fixing earlier arcs and fleshing out older characters feels easier to me.

Swap out the ending of TPB to show BloodClan in a less Xenophobic light, flesh out the WindClan Civil War and Leopardstar's leadership by connecting it to TigerClan's ideological legacy, use PO3 as a breather arc to explore how society is changing. These aren't such massive changes, really. That's what "Better Bones" means. The bones are the same, just a bit better.

That patience is running out.

Starting with AVOS and going onward, keeping the "bones" the same is feeling more and more constraining. The newer arcs are more than bad, they're boring. Nothing ever changes and the status quo is never altered.

And that's not even to downplay how BAD they are.

Super Editions will make characters LESS interesting. Every new non-Clan cat group is absurdly xenophobic. The most "impactful" moments from these new books are just shockingly stupid lines about childbirth that we all gather around to go "wtf" about.

I don't LIKE how much I dislike this new stuff, it gets tiring! I don't like having the same critique that the villains are shallow, the heroes are awful, the women are constantly fridged, and StarClan is ghoulish! It's sad!

Especially as I'm growing increasingly desperate about the situation all around me. I use BB to talk about culture and Fascism-- so there's been a lot more I want to say lately. Ideas that feel restrained by the new material more than inspired by it.

I will be explaining absolutely everything about BaB going forward in one post before I continue answering asks about specific story details, so that I can link it super easy with some clear rules about the freedom I can now wield like a maniac.

It's FULL HAMMER going forward. I really reflected on what I love most about writing BB, considering which limitations bring me joy like game rules VS what limitations are holding me down like restrictions.

One of my many little epiphanies is that I LOVE deconstructing what I think a given WC arc could have been about. Discussing themes, character arcs, narrative and framing, etc. It's a collective jumping-off point that links me to so many members of my audience, and even between a LOT of xenofiction fans broadly.

So, I want to keep that fun that I have (that we ALL have!) when we're following the new arcs, going "OOO WHAT IF" and "BONES PLS FIX IT." I'm just going to be a LOT more ruthless about changing the status quo, and letting those "breaking changes" snowball until newer arcs are essentially suggestions.

For an offhand example, I established Nature Spirits in the form of BB!Brokenstar, BB!Star Flower, and the composite character Hollylark. If the Moonpool is getting destroyed-- then, well, my logic is perfectly set up to introduce a new nature spirit character, and to do something BIG with that!

TL;DR Hammer Time.

It's very important that when you find yourself about to say something mean about a dead fascist, you take a deep breath and try to find something meaner to say :)

What's unfortunate is that Mr. "Empathy is a new age concept that has done a lot of harm" was honored in any way, shape, or form. You apologizing for your earlier attitude is more self-reflection than he had ever done in his short, miserable life. His ironic, frankly poetic death has brought more joy to this world than anything else his rotten existence did.

Justice from this point would be his killer never being found, the media cycle moving on to the three innocent victims of our latest school shooting (something Charlie LOOOOVED with all his worm-riddled heart), and his name being permanently paired with gleeful mockery. As inseperable as PBnJ.